Editor’s Note: This is part one in a two-part series about the racial integration of Texas’ men’s basketball team. Part two, which will be published Thursday, will tell the story of Larry Robinson, one of the first African-American basketball players at UT.

In early April, when Texas’ newest head coach Shaka Smart took the podium at his introductory press conference at the Frank Erwin Center, he had culminated a climb that had begun over 45 years earlier.

As the Longhorns’ 24th head coach, Smart became the first African-American coach of the basketball program, something he said he takes very seriously.

But Smart’s path was set by a trio of athletes — Sam Bradley, Jimmy Blacklock and Larry Robinson — who became the first black basketball players after a long but quiet integration process through the 1960s.

In November 1963, seven years after Texas integrated its undergraduate program in 1956, the Board of Regents agreed to desegregate all athletic activities at Texas. But Texas’ first African-American basketball player didn’t take the court for another five years.

Harold Bradley, head coach of Texas from 1956–1967, had strived to recruit multiple standout African-American athletes through the 1960s with little reward. But his best chance came with James Cash out of Terrell High School in Fort Worth.

Bradley made a full push for Cash — even going in front of the Austin City Council to lobby for a human rights commission to show that Texas was striving to improve race relations.

Cash eventually decided to stay close to home at TCU, becoming the first African-American basketball

player in the Southwest Conference in the 1966–1967 season.

Another slim prospect came with the well-known Lew Alcindor, now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Despite the assistants’ lack of optimism on the big man, Bradley was confident Alcindor would sign with Texas — even writing up a preliminary press release to announce his signing. But Alcindor went to UCLA and the Longhorns saw another opportunity pass.

“There were legitimate concerns of how do you integrate when you’ve had nothing that is an example of it,” said Bill Little, then-assistant sports information director.

By the time Leon Black took over as head coach of the basketball program in late spring 1967, Texas, which played in front of miniscule crowds at Gregory Gym, was still struggling to find success on the recruiting trail.

Texas was a football school, and it was well known. The school’s sports information director at the time described, “There are two sports at Texas — football and spring football.”

“We always had that back seat,” Black said. “Every time I went to recruit somebody, they had an article. And they said ‘Why should I come to Texas? Here’s your SID, he’s saying there are two sports at Texas, and basketball is not one of them.’”

Texas had little pull with African-American athletes. The national attention of Texas’ largest desegregation case of Sweatt v. Painter in 1950 had created distrust among the black community in Texas, and there were no black athletes with the Longhorns at the time to prove anything different.

“Many [African-American athletes] weren’t accustomed to playing around white players,” Robinson said. “They felt there weren’t enough black students [at Texas]. And that was true.”

Quietly, Samuel Bradley would become that example. Black reached out to Bradley, a freshman on the Texas track team at the time. He became the Longhorns’ first black basketball player in 1967.

Bradley, however, wasn’t the impact player Texas was looking for. Three years later, Blacklock and Robinson were.

Blacklock, formerly a star athlete at Austin High School, transferred to Texas from Tyler Junior College before the start of the 1971 season while Robinson became the first black basketball player to sign a letter of intent at Texas.

“I know I could play and race wasn’t an issue,” Robinson said. “I could acclimate myself to white society; it wasn’t for me a strange thing.”

During the 1972 season, Robinson created a lasting impact at Texas. While he led the Longhorns to their first Southwest Conference title, Robinson had helped set the path for future black athletes at Texas. Within the next two years, Texas added at least four more African-American players.

“I can’t tell you how happy I was when someone asked me how many African Americans we had and I could say I don’t know,” Little said.

Today, Texas joins Stanford as one of just two teams in the Power 5 conferences to have a black head coach for football and basketball. But, that fact isn’t as important as it once was.

“It shows you how far we’ve come,” Black said. “We’ve come to far that it doesn’t matter. You look for the best coach. If he’s black, he’s black. If he’s white, he’s white. If he’s brown, he’s brown. I think we’ve come that far.”

As a junior designer and assistant to the head of show production for the University Fashion Group, I am beginning to understand just the tip of the iceberg of the UT fashion show — an event produced annually since the inception of The School of Human Ecology.

Seniors on the apparel design track of the Textiles and Apparel Division will show five looks from their body of work in the UT Fusion Fashion Show April 23, produced by the University Fashion Group.

What started as a variety of presentations to an intimate audience has grown into a professional event at the Frank Erwin Center, with experienced models provided by Webber Productions, an audience upward of 5,000 guests and televised broadcasting on Time Warner Cable’s Longhorn Network. This growth has been supported by the University Co-op’s financial support and the increasing involvement of students in the University Fashion Group.

The University Fashion Group has grown in scope and responsibility for the fashion show, and today the organization is the main producer of the event — building the stage design, developing marketing and PR around the event and coordinating back-of-house functions.

What started as a small band of students in 1978 has grown into a large organization with head, assistant and associate officers as well as general members. The organization serves to link members of all majors in the fashion tracks, bringing guest speakers to meetings and working backstage for local fashion shows as well as during New York Fashion Week. In the spring, the organization focuses on producing the UT fashion show, which is named UT Fusion this year.

The organization names the fashion show every year based on submissions from general members. The current president, Ronit Joselevitz, has held several officer positions in the University Fashion Group and showed her collection as a senior designer at the UT Spectrum show last year.

Serving all these roles, Joselevitz has “‘seen how the University Fashion Group has worked together to create a larger hype and plan a bigger fashion show through the perspective of a member, officer, designer and now president. It’s definitely helped [her] grow in terms of career path goals and has showed [her] just how multi faceted fashion can be.”

Distinguished senior lecturer Eve Nicols has been the director of the UT fashion show since her arrival at the University, and she heads an advanced event production course that meets twice a week, a requirement for UFG officers.

Nicols believes “there are fashion shows in all parts of the fashion industry, so getting this experience is invaluable for several career choices. Leadership and event planning opportunities lead to work opportunities in the future.’”

Students here at UT engage in show production and professional photo shoots as well as work with University administration and corporate sponsors, such as Lexus of Austin and Cotton Incorporated.

When I was a freshman, the University Fashion Group provided a community to unite fashion-minded students. As I was taking general core classes, the group allowed me to meet students I would spend much of my time with as I progressed through the program.

As the assistant to the head of show production, I work with local hair and makeup salons to channel looks for our senior designers’ fashion show and photoshoots. I also help produce the show in terms of music and other aesthetic choices.

The show production team serves as the liaisons between the fashion group and senior designers. As a junior designer, I will be participating in the Lexus of Austin Design Challenge, for which I will show a look which transitions from day to night. Twenty-nine junior designers will showcase their looks in the presentation room at the Frank Erwin Center, and the top 10 looks will be chosen to walk the runway. A text-to-vote poll will help decide the winners, who will receive scholarships from Lexus of Austin.

The senior designers have taken several design and presentation courses to prepare for the show. They each have developed an activewear look, which ranges from technical, functional sports to creative looks such as beekeeping and fan dancing. Additionally, each designer shows an evening wear or bridal look, as well as a three-look capsule collection.

Several fashion industry members in the Austin area critique these looks during “panels,” or presentations in which the designers discuss their inspiration and design process for their work. The fashion show provides them with an opportunity to have their work viewed by a large public audience as well as experience what fashion events will be like in the industry.

The UT Fusion Fashion Show will be held April 23 at the Frank Erwin Center at 7:15 p.m. Admission is free, and all are welcome.

Patel is a business honors, finance and textiles and apparel junior from Sugar Land.

Senior guard Krystle Henderson and the Longhorns look to get their 20th win when they take on TCU on Senior Night.

The Longhorns, a game away from their second consecutive 20-win season, will hit the court one last time at the Frank Erwin Center to host TCU on Tuesday.

The team, which currently sits at sixth place in the Big 12, is in jeopardy of losing the opportunity for a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

But there’s even more on the line in this game. It’s Senior Night.

But this go-around feels different without senior forward Nneka Enemkpali.

“She affected our whole team because of her leadership qualities,” head coach Karen Aston said. “She was really the mother of the team. That was difficult to lose at the point that we lost it. It was difficult to replace because there really wasn’t another personality as strong as Nneka with the maturity that she had.”

Enemkpali said her torn ACL injury has provided a lesson in overcoming adversity and given her perspective about her time on the court.

“I’m sad that I’m not physically able to play out there,” Enemkpali said. “But I think, looking back on the memories that I had at the Erwin Center, the interactions with the fans and support of my family and teammates — it’s going to be easier for me to take in that journey here is over.”

Senior guard Krystle Henderson will also play for the last time at Texas. Although she played two seasons at Wichita State, she said she will miss the time she spent with her teammates.

“I know I didn’t come here for four years, but it’s definitely been a learning experience for me,” Henderson said. “I’m going to try not to cry, but I’m sure I’ll shed some tears.”

The team will try to bounce back after giving up a 14-point lead in overtime against West Virginia on Sunday.

“Our team has had problems with what I call sticking the knife in and really stepping on someone when you have somewhat some control of the game,” Aston said. “The most disappointing thing was how little we defended in the second half.”

Texas will look to stop a potent TCU offense that ranks third in the conference in scoring, averaging 70 points per game. TCU’s defense produces nearly 10 steals per game.

“For all of the young players, coming off of a tough road trip [with a] short turnaround, you would be looking for some sort of something to probably dig a little deeper with, and I would think that would be a great reason to do that,” Aston said.

The Longhorns lost their pervious matchup against the Horned Frogs last month by 5 points. They look to split the season series at 7 p.m. on the Longhorn Network.

Junior shooting guard Javan Felix was knocked down hard on a screen Saturday against Baylor and will miss Wednesday’s game against Oklahoma State.

After suffering perhaps its most surprising loss of conference play, falling to an unranked Oklahoma State team in Stillwater, Oklahoma, No. 25 Texas will get the opportunity to avenge the loss when they host the Cowboys at the Frank Erwin Center Wednesday. They’ll have to do it without one of their top weapons off the bench: junior guard Javan Felix.

Felix, who averages 10.2 points per game and leads the Longhorns with 36 3-pointers this season, was ruled out for the game with a concussion. A Texas press release issued Tuesday afternoon did not specify when Felix suffered the concussion, but he was visibly shaken up after running into a hard screen from Baylor forward Taurean Prince on Saturday that left him on the floor for the entirety of Baylor’s possession.

Without Felix, who has made at least one 3-pointer in 19 of his 20 games this season, the Longhorns’ already-thin backcourt depth will be tested. Sophomore guard Kendal Yancy, who has only seen more than 12 minutes in a game one time since the start of conference play, will likely see an uptick in minutes behind starting guards sophomore Isaiah Taylor and junior Demarcus Holland.

The injury comes at a difficult time for Texas, when the team is in desperate need of a victory after dropping each of its past three games and five of its past seven to fall to 3–5 in conference play. The Longhorns have struggled to find much rhythm offensively throughout the three-game losing skid, and senior forward Jonathan Holmes said he believes they need to start playing stronger defense to make up for their
offensive inefficiency.

“Offensively, if you’re not making shots, the urgency on defense should be even higher,” Holmes said. “It starts on defense, and we have to go
from there.”

The Longhorns struggled on defense in the second half against Oklahoma State last month, surrendering 41 points after halftime to the Cowboys. Oklahoma State’s senior forward Le’Bryan Nash and junior guard Phil Forte each scored 20 points in the game to give Texas its fourth consecutive loss in Stillwater.

Historically, Texas usually tells a different story when the Cowboys travel to Austin. The Longhorns boast a 26–12 all-time record at home against Oklahoma State, and they’ve won nine of their past 10 matchups against the Cowboys at the Erwin Center.

Still, it will be up to Texas to overcome its recent shooting woes–and the loss of Felix–to continue its success against Oklahoma State and get the season back on track.

“We have to get better,” Holmes said. “That’s the main thing right now. When we’re not shooting the ball well, we have to find a way to win games.”

Because of Dell Medical School construction, the University removed hundreds of “C” parking spots in lots near the Frank Erwin Center and School of Social Work, causing frustration among some commuting students as they returned to campus for the spring semester.

According to UTPD spokeswoman Cindy Posey, Lot 108, south of the Erwin Center, lost approximately 290 spots at the end of the fall semester. All of Lot 80, near the social work building, is being used to construct a chilling station for the Dell Medical School complex, Posey said.

“About 200 spaces will be returned to this lot at the completion of the project,” Posey said. “The parking needs when these spaces return will dictate the designation for these spaces, but I am certain that student parking will be a part of the mix.”

Austin Hill, mechanical engineering senior, said students who commute to campus often have difficulty finding a place to park.

“Today, I drove around for almost 10 minutes in circles waiting for a spot to open up — along with about five other cars,” Hill said. “And, sometimes when you find a spot, it’s a carpool spot, which I didn’t know was a thing until I got a ticket for it last Thursday.”

Hill said he used to park in Lot 80, but, because of the closure, he now tries to park mainly in Lot 70, just north of the closed-off area. Hill said he does not park in the lots east of I-35 because of how far they are from his classes. If he can’t find an open spot, Hill said he just pays to park on the streets around campus.

Dennis Delaney, operations manager for Parking and Transportation Services, said there are a sufficient number of empty parking spaces east of I-35.

“Before Lot E was closed on any given day, we had anywhere from 200 to 300 empty spaces on the other side of I-35,” Delaney said. “We’re still finding those locations empty — not as many as before, but there are still empty spaces that can accommodate people with a ‘C’ permit.”

Delaney said the parking services department has sold 2,264 “C” permits and 1,635 “C+” permits over the course of this academic year.

“Basically, we sell as the demand is there, so, if people are asking for them, we’ll sell them,” Delaney said.

English senior Heather French said she does not regret purchasing her “C+” permit, but she is still frustrated with her
parking situation.

“The PTS site makes it sound like parking across 35 is an easy option, when, in reality, the bus system is so unreliable that one has to plan a ton of time for taking the bus, which is not a viable alternative,” French said.

The University is building a new parking garage near the site of the new medical school in order to make up for lost spaces, Posey said.

“The garage will have 100-plus spaces, and it will serve the medical school district, including students,” Posey said. “The overall net gain for parking spaces on campus because of the Dell Medical School will be about 600-plus spaces.”

Delaney said the new parking spaces at the medical school garage will be accessible to all students.

“At the medical school, the only people who are probably going to want to park over there are the nursing school students and medical school students, so the demand that’s there from them is what’s going to drive how popular that garage is,” Delaney said.

Senior forward Nneka Enemkpali suffered a season-ending injury in the first half of Texas' 75-58 loss against Baylor. Texas' third loss in four games keeps head coach Karen Aston searching for her 150th career win.

Regulars in the audience at the Frank Erwin Center know that women’s basketball head coach Karen Aston finds it hard to sit still, even in the best of circumstances. Aston can almost always be found squatting, pacing or bouncing around chairs on the sidelines — unable to contain her noteworthy enthusiasm.

Aston is only the fourth coach for the program and in her eighth season overall as a head coach. In Waco on Monday, her Longhorns attempted to earn her 150th career victory — and fell short, largely because senior forward Nneka Enemkpali tore her ACL before halftime.

As Aston watched from the sidelines, hands over her mouth, No. 8 Texas lost, 75-58, against No. 3 Baylor.

Aston is one of the best-known female coaches in Texas, and she’s on the brink of a great victory — but considering the Longhorns have lost three of their last four games, Aston’s upcoming career milestone is probably not her focus. And as a decorated Longhorn coach, Aston can be certain her day will come soon.

What Aston is focused on is Enemkpali, whose injury represents a much more urgent concern for the team as a whole.

Enemkpali has been on a hot streak lately, a large part of Texas’ 13-0 start to the season. As Aston worked to rebuild the program, she relied upon Enemkpali, an All-American candidate and Big 12 leader in rebounds.

Before her injury early in the game Monday, Enemkpali co-led the team with sophomore center Kelsey Lang at six rebounds each — but her ACL injury means her season is over.

“It is never easy to see a student-athlete’s career cut short like this,” Aston said. “My heart goes out to Nneka because she has grown so much during her career at the University of Texas.”

Aston, whose 150th victory is just around the corner, said she hopes Enemkpali will be by her side to watch when the Longhorns return to action.

“Nneka has been the heart of our program for quite some time, and, as we move forward, she will continue to play a vital role on this team from the sidelines,” Aston said.

The Longhorns have won 13 consecutive games at the Erwin Center, but going forward, Enemkpali will not be able to rebound and assist. When Texas faces off against Iowa State in Austin on Sunday, it will do so without its veteran forward. Iowa State defeated Texas earlier this season with a 2-point lead at the buzzer.

Enemkpali ends her collegiate career ranked ninth in total rebounds, 30th in total points for Texas, and currently holds first place in the Big 12 for rebounds.

No. 4 Texas shot 52 percent and forced 28 turnovers, both season highs, which helped the Longhorns dominate the New Mexico Lobos, 86-37.

During the first half, Texas went on a 21-0 run and led by 38 points at halftime. This season, the Longhorns still have not allowed an opponent in the Frank Erwin Center to score more than 20 points in the first half.

Texas head coach Karen Aston said she felt the team had an outstanding performance in the opening half because of every player’s contribution. Despite the Longhorns building on their lead in the second half, Aston said the team could have performed better.

“I thought our effort was good; our energy was great; and our defense was fairly connected,” Aston said. “It got a little bit raggedy in the second half, but I do think this was a good performance for our team.”

The Longhorns improved to 6-0 on the year, their first time to open a season with six consecutive wins since the 2008-2009 season.

But from the lineup, Aston selected three upperclassmen and two sophomores to start. Aston said coming off the Tennessee game, upcoming finals and a shaky practice Tuesday, she felt the team needed maturity going against New Mexico.

“I wanted us to be serious about this game,” Aston said. “I went with the players I thought understood maybe a little bit better. You get to a point where you definitely, in some games, you have to know who you trust and who’s going to get you off to a good start [and] that’s nothing against anybody.”

Junior guard Empress Davenport said she thought the team would come out slow because of yesterday’s practice.

“But like coach said, she went with maturity, and we came out of the gates hard, and we just started fast,” Davenport said.

Senior forward Nneka Enemkpali grabbed 10 boards and had 7 points. Junior guard Brady Sanders led the team in scoring with 13 points and five assists. Sanders said she just tries to help the team in any way she can.

“It’s a great experience, but, starting or not starting, I just try to do the little things, bring energy, and those are just the things I try to focus on,” Sanders said.

The team stayed out of foul trouble with only 14 total team fouls, which is the lowest all season. Aston said the team stuck to the game plan of trying not to foul the Lobos often because of their style of play.

“We’re improving a lot, and something that we’ve been focusing on which is cut out the silly fouls and get our discipline better defensively,” Aston said.

The Longhorns return to the Frank Erwin Center on Monday to play the Southern University Jaguars at 11 a.m. The Jaguars are 1-4 this season.

Bags of cotton candy, circus hats and a circus uniform disappeared from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in one of two thefts last week at the Frank Erwin Center.

According to Erwin Center director John Graham, UTPD reports numerous thefts at the Erwin Center each year. Graham said no particular special precautions are taken to prevent thefts at large events, such as the circus, despite the large number of people in attendance.

The Ringling Bros. Circus performed at the center from Aug. 17-24. The circus comes several times a year to Austin and holds several different shows.

Sunday, circus staff reported seeing a man trying to take a souvenir cup and a stuffed animal from some displays. The man also tried to take a camera from one of the tripods available for event photographs, according to UTPD records. Police stopped the man after seeing him try to return the stuffed animal without a sales receipt. The man’s stepdaughter then gave the police the items the man had stolen, including a bag of cotton candy. UTPD let him leave after the encounter.

Thursday, a staff member at the circus reported that another theft had occurred. This time a circus uniform, circus hats and bags of cotton candy were stolen. According to UTPD records, the staff member did not see the theft take place but told police the items were taken sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon. UTPD officials placed the estimated loss value of the items around $65.

Erin Burgy, regional communications director for the circus, said she did not have any information on why the hats and uniform were stolen or how often thefts typically occur at the circus.

In this week's podcast, Jacob Kerr, Amanda Voeller and guests Nicole Cobler and Chris Hummer discuss Texas Student Media's decision to keep The Daily Texan's print schedule at five days a week. They also talk about the ad hoc committee of student leaders' revised tuition proposal and Chris' story on the future of the Frank Erwin Center.

UT’s fastest growing sport doesn’t compete at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium or on the court at the Frank Erwin Center. In fact, this sport doesn’t even take place on the 40 Acres. It happens on Lake Austin — with the help of a rod and reel.

The Texas bass fishing team has more than doubled in size since its founding in 2008. After starting with just seven active members and a few sponsors, the team now has 15 fishermen and eight sponsors.

“The Texas bass team was pretty small when I joined,” said Cody Levy, public relations senior and team president. “I became president of the team with a goal of fishing more tournaments, gaining more members and securing more sponsorships to help with expenses. This year, we have started right where we left off and have been growing and securing bigger and better sponsorships.”

Wade Middleton, director of collegiate operations for the Association of Collegiate Anglers, said collegiate fishing, even outside of Texas, is growing at an unprecedented rate.

“There are now over 250 schools nationwide that actively compete yearly,” Middleton said. “College fishing has grown about 400 percent since the ACA had its first event nine years ago.”

The Texas team hosted its first ever competition, the University of Texas Collegiate Invitational, on Lake Austin last Sunday.

“This is an Association of Collegiate Anglers event for all colleges,” Levy said. “I think everyone is going to talk about for it for years because it is the first college fishing tournament that guarantees all anglers will be rewarded with at least some [equipment] after the competition.”

In a collegiate bass fishing tournament, each school sends at least one team of one or two anglers who fish from the same boat for eight hours. If an angler wants to fish alone, the tournament director may assign a non-fishing observer to accompany the angler. Teams are scored based on the combined weight of their five heaviest bass of at least 15 inches in length.

“Largemouth bass, spotted bass and smallmouth bass are counted,” Levy said. “Bass presented for weigh-in that fail to measure the official length are not counted.”

Of the 10 schools that competed in Sunday’s tournament, the Longhorns’ top pairing of Carter Lyon and Carlos De La Fuente finished eighth overall, with a combined weight of 17.52 pounds. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s top duo won the event with a combined weight of 26.79 pounds.

The result may not have been what Texas was looking for, but the team’s passion and desire to succeed remains as high as ever.

“When I went through a breakup, that feeling didn’t even come close to the pain I was feeling when I lost a bass while fishing,” Levy said. “No matter what I go through, I will always be a fisherman and never give up.”